S-T-R-E-T-C-H Spelling

Stretch spelling, sometimes referred to as inventive spelling, is when a student exercises their knowledge of phonemes, the letters of the alphabet and their confidence in the  alphabetic principle to write words.
Although I believe it is important to correct a child's written work, I also think it's essential to allow a student open-ended opportunities to use their current writing knowledge to increase their confidence in all they can accomplish.

Yesterday morning my reading students arrived with excitement, eager to share news of their recent winter breaks.  I, too, was excited to hear about their travels, new toys, and holiday adventures- so I sent them to their journals, pencil-in-hand.

Each student was encouraged to draw a picture, highlighting a special event. After, they wrote at least two sentences describing this event in words. I was very impressed with their hard work. As you can tell, many students have a solid understanding of phonemes, sentence structure, punctuation, and general spelling rules. They did a fabulous job of utilizing stretch spelling in their writing. Bravo!